Star Wars_ Cloak of Deception - James Luceno [0]
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 2002 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated.
All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
Excerpt from The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston copyright © 2002 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. Used under authorization.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House Inc.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-79570-0
v3.1
For Karen-Ann,
one of the few people I know who has made
a true difference in the world—most assuredly
in mine
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Dorvalla
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Coruscant
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
The Outlying Systems
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
The Inner Circle
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
About the Author
Also by this Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Excerpt from Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Introduction to the Old Republic Era
Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era
Introduction to the Rebellion Era
Introduction to the New Republic Era
Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era
Introduction to the Legacy Era
Star Wars Novels Timeline
A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY
FAR, FAR AWAY.…
AFTER A THOUSAND GENERATIONS OF PEACE, THE
GALACTIC REPUBLIC IS CRUMBLING. ON CORUSCANT,
AT THE CENTER OF CIVILIZED SPACE, GREED AND
CORRUPTION RIDDLE THE SENATE, BEYOND EVEN
THE ABILITIES OF SUPREME CHANCELLOR VALORUM
TO REMEDY. AND IN THE OUTLYING SYSTEMS, THE
TRADE FEDERATION DOMINATES THE HYPERLANES
WITH ITS GARGANTUAN VESSELS.
BUT NOW EVEN THE TRADE FEDERATION FINDS
ITSELF ASSAILED FROM ALL QUARTERS, PREYED
UPON BY PIRATES AND RAIDERS, AND VICTIMIZED
BY TERRORISTS, WHO DEMAND AN END TO THE
FEDERATION’S TYRANNICAL PRACTICES.
IT IS A TIME THAT TESTS THE METTLE OF ALL
THOSE WHO STRIVE TO HOLD THE REPUBLIC
TOGETHER—NONE MORE THAN THE JEDI
KNIGHTS, WHO HAVE LONG BEEN THE
REPUBLIC’S BEST HOPE FOR PRESERVING PEACE
AND JUSTICE…
DORVALLA
Luxuriating in the unfailing light of countless stars, the Trade Federation freighter Revenue lazed at the edge of Dorvalla’s veil of alabaster clouds.
Indistinguishable from its myriad brethren, the freighter resembled a saucer, whose center had been pared away to create two massive hangar arms and a stalked centersphere that housed the great ship’s hyperdrive reactors. Forward, the curving arms fell short of each other, as if in a failed attempt to close the circle. But, in fact, the gap was there by design, with each arm terminating in colossal docking claws and gaping hangar portals.
Like some gluttonous beast, a Trade Federation vessel didn’t so much load as gobble cargo, and for close to three standard days, the Revenue had been feeding at Dorvalla.
The outlying planet’s principal commodity was lommite ore, a major component in the production of transparisteel viewports and starfighter canopies. Ungainly transports ferried the strip-mined ore into high orbit, where the payloads were transferred to a fleet of self-propelled barges, tenders, and cargo pods, many of them as large as shuttles, and all bearing the Spherical Flame sigil of the Trade Federation.
By the hundreds the unpiloted crafts streamed between the Dorvallan transports and the ring-shaped freighter, lured to the breach in the curving arms by powerful tractor beams. There the docking claws nudged the crafts through the magnetic containment